The grippli screams, a horrible amphibian shriek as the missiles bite into her body. She staggers backwards and begins hyperventilating as she tries to get her bearings once again. Through watery eyes she begins another casting, and this time the pendant around her neck begins to glow.
After her own projectiles fire off, she retreats to far end of the bar to recuperate.
Shabbezz's magical missiles struck the man unerringly as Tialara vaulted over the bar and rushed to his side. From the other side, Harbug dragged himself to cover behind the bar, leaving a wide red smear on the old floor planking, as Fang scurried out to deliver his master's spell. The man simply shook that one off as well, glaring at both felines and raising his hands to cast another spell.
Tialara takes 9 damage after her AoO (unless she does 16 damage; 26 on the concentration check)
Initiatives:
Angelica 9 [zzz]
Shabbezz 7
Tialara 6
Harbug 3 [zzz]
Krass 17 [zzz]
enemy 12
After this round, Angelica and Krass are no longer unconscious, but are blinded and stunned for a further 4, and then stunned for 1.
Tialara swings her claws at the man, and missed horribly. For her efforts the man blasted her with more magical energy. Enraged, she took another swing.
Not realizing how hurt she was, Tialara collapsed.
Harbug sees another companion fall, and tries to pull himself together.
Fang returns to his master's side, but refrains from climbing to his perch on the orc's shoulders.
Alternatives:
1) If Shabbezz moved into touch range of him (incl. a 5-foot step): Harbug reaches out to Shabbezz, ignoring his own bleeding and touches her for a moment. "Nehmen Sie mein Blut für diese kleine, werden das Blut Gottes Preis bezahlt."
2) If Shabbezz is out of his reach (including a 5-foot step) He looks to Shabbezz and says "You got a weapon? Come over here and I'll try to give you a fighting chance." He drags himself toward the door, still clutching his own weapon in hand.
Shabbezz winces from her crouched position near Harbug and tries to make out what he just said.
"I'm afraid Orc isn't a language that I'm terribly familiar with, friend. However, I feel that it may be appropriate to return the sentiment."
Making a mental note to write up a scroll of mage armor as a contingency whenever she gets the chance, she pops up from her position on the floor and resorts to using one of her cantrips against the attacker before diving back prone behind the safety of the bar.
The human sorcerer snarled as Shabbezz's spell failed to touch him, and he kicked Tialara's body as he stalked closer to the grippli. "Just you an' me now, froggie. Yer friends ain't gonna help you no more. I'ma gonna get me a pretty penny fer you, I am. A talking frog what can do magic tricks? You and yer friends fell for the story hook, line, and sinker. Don't worry about them none. I'll patch them up and keep them from dying. No use to me dead. Not here. Well, maybe the orc. No use for them, none at all. Now, be still!" And with the last of his words, a wave of energy flowed towards you.
Initiatives:
Angelica 9 [stunned]
Shabbezz 7
Tialara 6 [dying/stable]
Harbug 3 [dying/stable]
Krass 17 [stunned]
enemy 12
As the man steps up next to his bleeding, broken-seeming body and begins chanting, Harbug slashes at his stomach with his falchion!
To be continued...
Harbug's falchion struck the man just above the groin, ripping out his solar plexus and immediately turning the arcane muttering into gasps of pain. The man's hands dropped to his stomach in an attempt to keep his intestines and organs inside his body, while he dropped to his knees beside the orc. The effort was too much for Harbug, and his hideous wounds tore open again and began bleeding.
The man appears to be out of commission (disabled and bleeding)
Harbug is bleeding again.
Shabbezz's will save wasn't needed after all, as the casting was interrupted by sudden organ failure.
At the end of Round 10, Krass and Angelica are back with us. Anything anyone can (or chooses) to do between now and then?
Harbug drags himself across the floor, stopping next to the injured druid. As he goes, his blood seeps out onto the floor, but slows.
"Shabbezz, if you have any bandages over there, see if you can stop that man's bleeding--we may want to question him."
Shabbezz blinks; Harbugs sudden violent solution that had saved her from the enemy's attempted spell had left her momentarily stunned, but she quickly regained her bearings.
"Er...Right. Right, let's see what I can do about that...
Undoing an ornamental sash from her Mwangi-styled robes, she attempted somewhat awkwardly to patch up their bleeding foe.
Krass and Angelica open their eyes to a gruesome sight. Blood covers the floor and walls of the Puffy Pelican. Arterial spray has decorated the walls in interesting patterns, while the floor at the end of the bar looks to be a lake of red. Harbug, holding a gaping wound in his stomach, is calling out directions to Shabbezz, who is holding a strip of cloth hard against the sorceror's groin and solar plexus. From the other side of the bar, Tialra is making soft mewling sounds of pain.
Krass unstraps his shield as his wrist is aching from the awkward position he had been in and slowly gets up, making sure to grab his weapon on the way up.
He forcefully scrapes his throat and asks,"What happened?"
Immediately he notices the sorry state of his companions and he moves in on Tialara to make sure she's alright.
Krass can tell that Tialara is seriously injured, and maybe dying.
Angelica was unsure what had happened. They stormed in, there was a flash of color, then next thing she knew she could hear a fight taking place, but couldn't see it. To top it off, she couldn't move to do anything. Sit up, call out, even ask what in the hells was happening.
When she finally can see and move again the place looks like a mad dervish had ran through dropping everyone in its path. "Please tell me it wasn't a trap. I was keeping an eye out for them, I swear it. Ah, geez! Tia! You alright?" She moves over to the catfolk, unsure how to even help, "C'mon, one of you wiggle fingers has to know how to heal right?" she looks at Shabbezz and Harbug, before trying anything she can think of. Sadly, in her previous line of work, helping the wounded wasn't exactly a priority.
Harbug looks over at the druid next to him. "I might be able to get her up and kicking, but I'm gonna need bandages if I do. I'm strong, but not invulnerable. Speaking of, remind me to buy some bandages next time we're out-and-about."
Harbug grunts, and some blood spurts out as he reaches over to touch the unconscious cat.
Krass immediately moves over to the orc who can't seem to stop spending his blood on others. "Hey now big guy, you stay put, we'll get you lot wrapped up and ready to move to a safe location in a minute."
With a sense of urgency he starts tearing off some fabric of Harbug's sleeves to cover the wound with, making sure to tighten it up proper and good. They'd have to find some liquor later to scourge the wounds .. or maybe a proper healer.
Tialara's eyes pop open. She bolts upright with a hiss and her right hand raised above her head, claws extended. After looking around quickly, the Druid retracted her weapons and turned her attention to helping Krass with the Orc.
While the others attend to Harbug's wounds, Shabbezz looked at her handiwork and frowned. She honestly had no idea if her ministrations had succeeded in significantly aiding their foe's recovery (and frankly after the damage he'd wrought among herself and their ranks, she wasn't entirely opposed to the idea of letting him twist in agony for a bit), but keeping him in a condition to be questioned was a priority.
"There's a subschool of necromancy that emphasizes the healing arts, but to be honest I never had much interest in it," she replies to Angelica. "Now, I don't think our assailant is in any condition to be going anywhere anytime soon, but perhaps to err on the side of prudence we should attempt to bind his arms and legs, and maybe also provide a gag so that he will be unable to cast any more spells."
Harbug groans a bit and carefully puts a hand over a particularly bloody spot. "Ugh, I'll be fine in a while. See what you can do about that guy. He said something about we 'fell for it...' I wonder if we'll be making another, less-friendly, visit to that fortune-teller. I'll make sure to pick up some smelling salts when I buy those bandages."
He snarls, baring his fangs as his orange eyes blaze with fury. His training then kicks in and his muscles tighten, giving Harbug a simple nod,"Did he now. I guess we should stalk the fortune-teller the coming days and see what other people he'll be reporting to before reminding him that he messed with us."
After that Krass wanders off into the building, checking if there's any stuff around to be found, perhaps the possessions of the man they had downed.
Tialara seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure the fortune-teller is to blame. Harbug, wasn't it an old dockworker that told you about this place?"
Shabbezz managed to stabilize the sorceror as the others worked on Harbug and Tialara. Krass, unable to really help with the ministrations began looking around the bar and rifling through a pack that he found in one corner. In the pack were a pair of vials of a pale blue liquid. He recognized them immediately from prior experience - healing potions! There was also a handful of gold, a gem, and some old blankets. On the man himself, the fighter found a well-crafted dagger, some darts, and 2 more vials, one of which was empty.
Krass shares his findings with the group, handing the two healing potions to the wounded ones - Harbug and Tialara. The rest he put in the pack to be distributed at a more appropriate moment. The unknown vials he hands to Shabbezz. "Maybe you can find out what these are. Anyone need a dagger?
"What are these," she asks as Krass hands her two vials.
Angelica eyeballs all the stuff coming off the man, trying to get an idea of the value of each one, particularly the gem. "I'm not much of a knife fighter, but I can use the darts if no one wants them. I agree with fuzzy face," she uses the term affectionately, if that seems possible, unlike when she messes up Harbug's just to annoy him. "I don't think it was Zograthy, otherwise he would have made sure we were pointed more directly, instead of hoping we would find the info."
She points at the 'prisoner', "Once he can be questioned, we can find out what's going on."
The man's name is Plutivarch Dremis, and he is a wanted man. There is a 100 gp bounty on his head for various minor crimes, many of which he committed while posing as a member of the city watch.
"They should be healing potions, Tialara. As for our friend, lets wake him up once all of us can stand again. I'm tempted to break a few of his fingers to ensure he won't surprise us with magic this time.."
After eyeballing the gem appreciatively, Angelica finally gets a good look at the man they captured, "Well, beyond the gem fetching a nice hefty price, ummm, bout two-fifty, it seems we can get decent coin from turning this guy over to the authorities. His name's Plutivarch Dremis, and after causing trouble posing as a member of the watch, there's a nice bounty for him. A good hundred gold, to be precise. After we get the answers we want from him, we should turn him over, and pocket some reward money."
"Oh." Hands one back to him, "Give this to the little one, she needs it more than I." Turns to Harbug, "One good turn deserves another." Tialara pops the cork and gently pours the contents into his mouth.
Blood receded, Harbug's insides pulled back in, and the gashes closed up leaving behind scars across his flesh. While the wounds were healed, the Orc still looked weak.
"Urgh" Harbug coughs "No need to fuss over me, I'm fine. But I appreciate it." For a moment, as he looks at the catfolk, a strange look crosses his face, one that might even be a smile; then he returns to his typical stern look.
"Let's do that. Though the urge to skip the hundred gold and get some personal satisfaction is rising. A lick of a flame-touched dagger here and there to make him scream out his regret would be the least Sarenrae would approve of for this person to endure before he passes on to the next world. But that would be the uncivilized thing to do, so let's not."
The Druid helps Harbug into sitting position then goes to check on the others at the bar. She sees the man on the floor, and resists the urge to kick him in the face. "How's she doing?" refering to Shabbezz.
From her position near the assailant, Shabbezz looks up from her study of the vials at the druid.
"He'll live, more's the pity," she shrugged, "but at least we'll be able to question him about why he attacked us. How are you and the others holding up?"
As she talks, she waves one hand over the mystery vials, trying to divine their nature.
The empty vial once contained a potion of invisibility, as does the full vial.
"Once he's tied up nice & snug, I'll wake him so we can 'talk' to him a bit." Harbug says as he wipes the blood from his falchion.
"And I shouldn't hope to miss it, my friend. Here--"
She tosses the empty vial to the nearest compatriot.
"--that contained an invisibility potion. The one that I'm holding is still full. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say our assailant imbibed it before we walked in. It was probably how he managed to get the drop on us."
"Ambushes are always so fun," the cat chimed in jokingly.